Many Congress, TDP MLAs willing to join Jaganmohan Reddy?

HYDERABAD: Spurred by the spectacular victory of YSR Congress in the by-elections, many ruling Congress MLAs and main opposition TDP are believed to be keen to join the Jaganmohan Reddy bandwagon in Andhra Pradesh but he is said to wary of taking all of them.

"Not all defectors are welcome into YSRC and certainly not at this stage. They can join us in due course of time," a key leader of YSRC said after meeting Jagan in Chanchalguda prison here today.

Many of the newly re-elected MLAs of YSRC, led by former minister Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, met Jagan in the prison.

What is probably acting as a deterrent for the time being for those ready to switch side -- and also YSRC -- is the possibility of President's rule being clamped in the state if the government lands in a crisis due to the defections.

YSRC, according to party insiders, doesn't want the Kiran Kumar Reddy government to fall at once.

Rather, it would like to leave Congress fully debilitated by 2014 when fresh assembly polls are due.

When YSRC came into being in March last year, at least 29 Congress MLAs were displaying "loyalty" to Jagan but by the time of no-confidence motion in December last, the number got reduced to 16.

Besides, one MLA each of TDP and erstwhile Praja Rajyam Party are also on Jagan's side.

At least a dozen MLAs from Congress, some of whom had previously hobnobbed with Jagan for some time and later stayed back in their parent party, are reportedly ready to switch sides.